The present invention relates generally to automatic telephone answering and recording apparatuses of the type which automatically answers incoming calls and thereafter records the voice of the calling party. More particularly, the invention relates to an automatic telephone answering and recording apparatus in a system of the type wherein the owner of the automatic telephone answering and recording apparatus can determine easily, from an outside place away from this apparatus, whether or not there has been any recording of a caller's message or incoming message during his absence.
In general, an automatic telephone answering and recording apparatus comprises answering means which operates to close automatically the speaking circuit of the corresponding telephone in response to an incoming call in the case where the called party is not present, to reproduce an answering message recorded before-hand on a first cassette tape, and to send out the outgoing answering message toward the calling party through the telephone line and incoming caller's message recording means which operates to record on a second cassette tape any message or announcement sent from the calling party through the telephone line.
For the owner of this automatic telephone answering and recording apparatus to determine, from an outside place away from this apparatus, whether or not there has been any recording of a caller's message or incoming message during his absence, the following manipulative procedure has been necessary with a known apparatus. First, from the outside place, the owner calls the telephone which he owns by dialing its call number. Then, after the telephone line has been connected, he sends a predetermined control signal through the line thereby to rewind and reproduce the above mentioned second cassette tape. Then, when an incoming message has been recorded on the second cassette, it is reproduced, and the owner can hear through the line the content of the recorded incoming message.
In the case of this conventional apparatus, however, even when an incoming message has not been recorded on the cassette tape, the apparatus is activated by the above mentioned control signal to rewind and thereafter to reproduce the cassette tape. The owner thus listens for a reproduced sound and, upon learning that there is no reproduced sound, discovers for the first time that there has not been any recording of an incoming message. Consequently, in the case where there has been no recording of any incoming message, the above described manipulative procedure and operation become completely wasted. Correlatively, the time expended from the start of the manipulative procedure to the discovery that there has been no recording of an incoming message and the resulting telephone charge are completely wasted.